Are smart motorways dangerous? - BBC London

Smart motorways have converted the hard shoulder into a lane of traffic in order to increase capacity. But, police say if a car breaks down, they would be sitting in an active lane.

[Seek-God-First]

Yes! It’s insanely dangerous! People driving need a “safe place” to pull over in case they have to. It’s absolutely ludicrous and dangerous not to provide safe place for drivers to pull over!

[DaBriars]

Typical UK policy
Cheap alternative but extremely dangerous when you breakdown

[routemaster]

they are such a bad idea. just a cheep way of adding more lanes and somehow they manege to spend 3 years upgrading them

[Hashterix]

They're horrific. Not just the fact there is no hard shoulder, smart motorways cause a huge amount of driver fatigue that normal motorways don't cause, and the constantly changing speed limits and traps cause motorists to drive dangerously close to each other more so than when left to their own devices. They were designed without taking human behaviour into consideration, we will never be able to control vehicles like a computer would. So this type of road should be postponed until cars are fully automated.

[johnblaze]

So stupid. Cars breaks down and you are screwed over. I've also been in traffic where emergency services are trying to get through and it's near impossible to do in a reasonable time

[Justwanthavefun_]

Yes is very very very dangerous ! The speed limit is keep changing each mile even is empty road and drivers afraid speedy and suddenly brake

[fisherinc]

"As safe as a normal motorway", but not better, what's point then.

[ss.spotting]

the video could just be 2 seconds long and some guy just says ’yes’, and that’s that

[deryab]

Remember how you were never allowed to drive in the hard shoulder because it was dangerous and full of hazards? So what makes it any safer now? Nothing "smart" about them

[jeankeen]

I was involved in an incident on the m62 last Saturday on a stretch of smart motorway .
I was on the inside lane like everyone else sticking at or below 50mph
(I have had no points on my licence since I can't remember when)
The car in front of me did an emergency stop just in time to avoid a vehicle that had run out of petrol !,
sadly, I was not so lucky and could not stop in time . There was a lorry immediately behind me which just missed my car .
if the driver hadn't done this, a really major incident would have occurred .
All because there was no hard shoulder.
Someone needs to think again .

[dannylad]

Turning the motorway hard shoulder into a lane used for traffic is simply madness.

[alexandrelobo]

I'm an HGV driver and I drove in Portugal, Spain, France and UK. For me, the most dangerous roads are the smart motorways in UK where trafic starts to stop for no reason at all. And whit no warning you catch cars parked in the hard shoulders whit mechanical problems.

[michaelmouse]

Smart Motorways aren't dangerous unless you use them with other cars, want to go anywhere on them or break down unexpectedly.

[jayeshhonda]

Smart motorways are a great risk
Do not drive on them

[nmeister]

I've always felt worried driving on so called "smart motorways", eyes continuously dancing between the speedo and overhead gantries, wondering if you're speeding or lane has closed. All reduces your time and ability to spot real potential hazards.

[focusmicro]

M27 westbound closed for two days junction 5 -7 last week (lorry crash into gantry due to others bad driving), M3 Southbound closed for hours and hours this week (due to 6 car pile-up and A31 (very near M27, M3) closed due to incident with hours of tail backs (both M3 and A31 incidents at the same time/day, chaos!). Makes me wonder if hard shoulder existed, would these people still be alive today.

[rhiannonchaffer]

They're an absolute abomination. As stated, they remove the safety of a hard shoulder and prevent emergency vehicles getting through. I refuse to drive on the hard shoulder/inside lane of them. But if I was to break down, I'd be just as stranded and in danger of being hit as everyone else is. They need to banned ASAP.

[sidneyeaston]

Using the hard shoulder as an extra lane is just asking for trouble. The planners know the effect of what they call smart but keep on putting more variable speed sections in and in most cases traffic lights on entrances and exits. Do not be fooled these stretches of motorway are designed to stop traffic or at least slow it down to relive the pressure further down the road. They have done the same thing in small towns across the country build new roads to allow through traffic then close the old roads to force traffic to use the new roads that were only meant to relieve the pressure not to completely banish all traffic But if they had a good brain fart and got it right just once they would be out of a job for a few years,

[grassytramtracks]

There's nothing smart about these dumb motorways, they must be banned

[vincentdeguard]

simple answer is yes...take a drive along the M1 when it in "smart-mode" at night. sections which were previously fully-lit now only lit at junctions...another (austerity) cost-cutting measure. odd isn't it...that people been fined for (illegally) driving in the hard shoulder in the past when the motorway is now it "safe" because there a few extra cameras and the odd "refuge-lay-bys".